Assault of the Zaqali Raid Guide in Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible

I also have my own website dedicated to both tanks and raid leaders where I share my insight on the bosses with strategy and preparation advice which I will update after my guild has completed progress. If you are interested in this or want to discuss it on Discord, the links to them are below:

• https://www.tanknotes.com
• Discord Invite Link

• Tanks: Face Heavy Cudgel away from other players.
• Avoid Cave Rubble.
• Pick up rocks left behind by Cave Rubble and use the extra action button on the sides of the platform where there is an arrow.
• The boss will jump to the other platform at 100 energy.

• After one cycle of boss mechanics, adds will appear. The raid will split in two to the two platforms.
• Every add that spawns will try and run to the door to destroy it. Hit/taunt them to stop them and prevent Barrier Backfire.
• Focus all damage on the Magma Mystic whilst it has Molten Barrier active.
• When the boss is on your platform, focus damage on him as a second priority.
• Players targeted by Blazing Spear should move away from the clump.
• Dodge Arbalest Fire.
• Heroic/Mythic: Players targeted by Volcanic Shield should face the beam away from other players.
• Mythic: Be mindful of when Ignara is on your platform, as it will cast Vigorous Gale and attempt to push you off the platform.
• Mythic: Small phoenixes will fixate on players and pulse damage around them.

• At the start of this phase, the boss will heal 10% over 10 seconds.
• Tanks: Face Flaming Cudgel away from other players.
• After Flaming Cudgel is cast on the tank, all players need to spread.
• At 100 energy move towards the door and soak Catastrophic Slam. If players do not soak, this may trigger Barrier Backfire.
• Heroic/Mythic: The raid will need to take turns to soak Catastrophic Slam as it will apply Weakened Vitality.

The goal of this phase is to get Warlord Kagni to 25% and deal with the waves of adds which will try and breach the door. If any adds attack the door, you will wipe.

If you have high raid DPS you can potentially push the boss to 25% and skip the add phase compeltely. If this is the case use Bloodlust on the pull and burn the boss.

• Before the pull, establish who will be on each side of the room. This should be an even split of your raid. You can position yourselves on the other side of the boss by either using a shroud or running behind the pillar and jumping over the gap.
• Start the fight by pulling Warlord Kagni between the two platforms and face the boss towards the door (so the Heavy Cudgel doesn't hit melee DPS).
• Tanks: Ensure that only one tank is hit by Heavy Cudgel. This ability will follow whoever is tanking at the time and deal damage in a cone in front of the boss. This also applies a debuff increasing physical damage taken.
• Watch out of the swirls cast by Cave Rubble. When these land , you are able to pick up the rocks on the ground. This will give you an extra action button.
• Use the extra action button during the add phase on the sides of the platform where there is an arrow. The arrows indicate where adds are climbing from, and you can throw a rock on them to make the add fall off and despawn!
• After one cycle of abilities, the add phase will begin.

• The raid will need to split to both platforms and deal with the Magma Mystic that spawns.
• The Magma Mystic is your highest priority to kill. When it has Molten Barrier active, it will tick damage to the entire raid and increase damage every tick.
• Throughout this phase, adds will climb onto the platform and run toward the door. If any adds reach the door, they will trigger Barrier Backfire and wipe the raid.
• You can stop an add running to the door by hitting or taunting them. Simply AoE everything down that isn't the Magma Mystic or Warlord Kagni.
• When the boss is on your platform, focus damage on him as a second priority.
• The boss will jump to the other platform at 100 energy.
• Flamebound Huntsman: This add will cast Blazing Spear on several players. These players will have a ring around them indicating where the spear will land, and it will explode in this area. Players with this debuff should move away from the cluster of players to reduce damage taken by other players.
• Arbalest Fire will periodically fall on the platform. These will appear as giant red circles. Run out of these if one spawns in your location.

Heroic changes:

• Obsidian Guard: This will now cast Volcanic Shield at a random non-tank player. This will put a beam from them to that player, and any player in the path will be hit. The player targeted should face the beam away from other players.

Mythic changes:

• Ignara now roams the battlefield. If Ignara is on your platform, they attempt to push you off it with Vigorous Gale. Use mobility cooldowns to counter this.
• Small phoenixes will also be present during the encounter. They will fixate on players and pulse damage around them. Once they are killed, they will go dormant for a short while and ressurect.

When Warlord Kagni reaches 25% HP, he will jump towards the door and begin Phase 2.

• In this phase, there are no more adds. Finish the adds you have on your platforms and meet at the door.
• During the 10-second heal cast, you are able to hit the boss without consequence.
• Tanks: Flaming Cudgel works similarly to Heavy Cudgel where you will want to point it away from other players (and your co-tank).
• Instead of debris falling after Flaming Cudgel, every player will be debuffed and have a ring placed around them. Do a small spread as a raid to avoid cleaving other people and taking additional damage.
• At 100 energy, the boss will cast Catastrophic Slam. Warlord Kagni will leap at the door, and if not enough players soak this slam Barrier Backfire will be triggered, and you will wipe. Ensure the raid is standing in the soak zone at the door to prevent this.

Mythic changes:

• The raid will need to take turns to soak Catastrophic Slam as it will apply Weakened Vitality increasing your damage taken by slam.
• Use the groups you assigned in Phase 1 for the platforms for this to simplify the soak rotation.

Your strategy for this boss focuses on being able to kill the Magma Mystics quickly. At the very first split ~30s, you will have a Mystic up on each side. Every minute after this one, Magma Mystic will spawn, and the spawn will be on alternate platforms.